Jeffries v Langford

The size difference has to be addressed, so let's start there.

Tom Sharkey, 5'8" 185-187lbs ,went the distance twice with Jeffries,20 & 25 rds, giving him close fights in both.


W W Naughton, who was ringside for them said Jeffries deserved the win in the second ,but that many thought Sharkey was worth a draw.

John L Sullivan predicted a Jeffries win, but that it would go the distance ,the height disparity being the major factor.He added that if Sharkey were 2" taller he would be champ.Some Irish loyalty there imo.

Sharkey was a sawn- off powerhouse, a durable, good hitter but ,imo inferior to Langford, in power and allround ability.

Sharkey was dropped by Choynski x2, Kid McCoy and wrecked early by Fitz twice, and kod by Ruhlin twice ,he was diminished when Ruhlin stopped him the second time, but still a young man at 28.

Langford was a harder hitter than Sharkey and a better boxer.

Sharkey was easy to hit and relied on incessant swarming , and some dubious rough- house tactics to win his fights. Not a sensible plan when facing Jeffries who was 6" taller, and 32lbs heavier.

Sharkey was stopped twice by body punches from Fitz and it was these punches that hurt him most against Jeffries.
Langford was never stopped by similar punches.
Jeffries name is based on wins over former greats who were markedly smaller, and conceding significant amounts of weight.

Langford's is based on beating men markedly bigger who were often receiving weight.
I think Langford is the bigger puncher he scored many one punch kos ,

Jeffries mostly relied on wearing down his smaller opponents in wars of attrition.
An exception was his second fight with Ruhlin ,who was almost his size ,Jeffries body shots so devastated Ruhlin that his corner retired him between rounds.

Langford left you senseless, Jeffries left you unable to continue the war of attrition he had started.
Jeffries left was extended like a prow of a ship, he would hook heavily to the body or head from this position and his follow up right was also a heavy thudding punch capable of finishing a man.

Langford often walked nonchalantly into his adversaries guns,confident his superior armoury would prove decisive but he could box well and make himself an elusive target ,when the situation demanded it.

Sam could get you out of there with either hand, and if often only took one shot.
No one accomplished this with Jeffries ,until his abortive comeback when he was a mere facsimile of his former self.

As I said, Jeffries usually acheived his wins by a methodical process of wearing down.


What we have is a great light heavyweight, a contender for the title Number 1 P4P pitted against a very good heavyweight,the best of his day ,the first of the big heavyweight champions in overall size and weight.


Jeffries was prime when he retired in 1904 at the age of 29.

Langford ,probably between 1909 and 1912, during this period Sam was often comfortably inside the light heavy limit, and sometimes carrying enough surplus to put him into the heavyweight ranks.

Langford fought strong tough, heavy left hookers of top class like 200lbs plus Sam McVey and ,though they shared the honours in 7 fights,and McVey won two ,Langford won a further six, and some of these by ko.
Langford has a lot of losses on his record ,[over 30,] but his career spanned 24 years , and for the latter part of it he was not only often seriously fat, but half blind.

Jeffries retired at 29 and, apart from his abysmal comback in 1910, never faced the new wave of challengers that were coming up, if he had fought on into his 40's, meeting the Johnson's, McVey's, Langford's and Jeannette's ,would he only have the one defeat to Johnson on his record?


Could Sam concede 35lbs and 7inches in height, to a man who was viewed as indestructible in his prime.?
Could Jeffries, who withstood the punches of terrific hitting men like Choynski and Fitz absorb the same shots from a prime Langford?
Would Jeffries, who was often terribly marked up in fights be tkod by the thunderous punching Sam ?

I'll make a pick later.

 

Bravo! Excellent breakdown. Excellent....

 

Praise from Caesar.:good

 

Very nice break down plus a great read!!! :good:good

 

From what I have read, Langford wanted to tackle any heavyweight EXCEPT
Jim Jeffries. He didn't want any part of the burly prime Boilermaker. I had read Langford's statement many times in old boxing mags...So I'll take
Langfords word that the much larger Jeffries was too darn big in his prime.
Many years ago I read an interview with an old-time heavyweight named
Sandy Ferguson, a big rugged heavyweight who beat Joe Jeannette, drew with Sam Langford and Gus Ruhlin, and was a sparring partner for Bob Fitzsimmons. In the column he was asked who would win between Bob Fitz and Sam Langford ? His answer ,"Fitszimmons would wear down Langford with his body shots ". For what it's worth...
So, I'll pick a prime Jeffries over the much smaller Sam Langford. Too,too big and rugged for Langford. Langford and his mgr. Joe Woodman wanted no part of Jim Jeffries, and who knew better than they ?

 

It's true that Woodman made that statement but it should be noted it was in 1904 ,whilst Jeffries was champion .
Jeffries last fight as champ was in August 1904. In the middle of December 1904 Langford scaled 141lbs for a fight against lightweight Jack Blackburn the result of which was a draw. Considering Jeffries scaled 224.5lbs in his last defence is it any wonder Woodman excluded Jeffries from his challenge? The 1912/1914 ,200lbs Langford , who kod Wills and the Gunboat would have been a somewhat different proposition, imo.

 

Mcvey, I stand enlightened. Jeffries was 8 years older than Langford and in 1904 Jeffries last year as HW Champ ,Sam Langford had to make this remark whilst Jeff was still champ, i would suppose in 1904. Langford was probably 147-55 lbs then. That being said I still think the prime Jeffries beats any version of Sam Langford...The Boilermaker was considered
unbeatable in a 20 round bout,at his zenith. Thanks for the info.:hi:

 

I go along with this,Burt. Langford was a better fighter,overall,but Jeffries size would decide it.

 

Great post McVey!

Going on a footage pick here, and assuming Langford, an inside powerhouse, doesn't get crushed by Jeff's immense strength. Langford by K.O at some point. Jeffries took an immense beating off Fitz TWICE and broke him down, I reckon Langford would brave it and get him out of there.

If not, a draw or points 'win' for JJJ ;-)

 

Langford quote for information only;
THE AUBURN CITIZEN/TUESDAY, AUGUST 1911,
"I could have stopped Jeffries myself in Reno
in quicker time than Mistah Johnson did the trick."

 

See below the report on the Jeffries-Langford bout of 1910.
Sorry about the format, haven't the time or desire to edit it!

S C H E N E C T A D Y G A Z E T T E, S A T U R D A Y M O R N I N G, J A N U A RY 4, 1 9 13

T h a t J im J e f f r i es w a s k n o c k e d o u t
In f o ur r o u n ds in a p r i v a t e b o u t w i t h
S am L a ng f o rd a f e w d a y s b e f o r e h is
m e m o r a b l e b a t t l e w i t h J a c k J o h n s o n
a t R e n o , w h i c h w a s n o d o u bt r e s p o n -
s i b l e f or t he n e r v o u s' b r e a k d o w n a n d
w h i c h a i d ed l e a r g e l y In h is d e f e a t. Is
t he a s s e r t i on of J im B a r r y , '. C h i c a g o
h e a v y w e i g h t b o x e r , at p r e s e nt in T a -
c o m a.
T he i m p r o m p tu c o n t e st b e t w e e n
J e f f r i es a nd L a n g f o r d w a s a r r a n g e d
a s a s o r t of t r y o ut f o r . J e f f. T he b i g
b o l l e r m a k e r w a n t e d to t e st h is fighti n g s t r e n g t h on t he e v e of t he b i g b a tt l e . It t o ok p l a c e a t h is t r a i n i n g
q u a r t e r s a t M p n a . S p r i n g s a n d w a s w i t -
n e s s ed by o n l y h a lf a d o z en p e o p l e ,
a ll of t h em t r a i n e r s of J e f f r i e s.
J oe W o o d m a n , . L a n g f o r d 's m a n a g e r ,
a nd t he c o l o r e d- b o x e r h i m s e lf w e r e t he
o n l y o n e3 p r e s e nt o u t s i de of J e f fs o w n
h a n d l e r s. T he i i t t l e a f f a ir h a s b e en
k e p t a s e c r e t a ll t h e s e m o n t h s, o n l y
t o be d i s c l o s ed b y L a n g f o r d 's m a n a -
g e r , w h o c o n f i d ed it t o B a r r y.
B a r r y s a y * t he t r y o ut m a t c h w a s
f r a m ed u p a w e e k b e f o r e t he R e n o
b a t t l e . A l a r g e r o om a t t h e h o t e l
w h e r e J e ff w a s s t o p p i n g a t .Mona
S p r i n g s, w a s c l e a r ed of i ts f u r n i t u r e
a nd t he m e n w e n t a t it op t he floor
w i t h no r i n g. • F i v e - o u n c e g l o v e s w e r e
u s e d. ^Yuud^^^u^ h a u d l e d ' a n a c a r e d - f o iL a n g f o r d in t he b o u t, w h i l e \ t h e r e
w e r e f o ur m e n w h o a t t e n d e d J e f f r i es
— B o b A r m s t r o n g , S am B e r g e r , J im
C o r b e tt a n d t h e f o r m e r c h a m p i o n 'B o ld
f r i e n d, D i c k A d a m *. N o o n e e l s e
a r o u nd t h e t r a i n i n g q u a r t e r s k n e w or
t he b o u t, a nd t o t h is d ay J e f f r i e s' o t h e r
t r a i n e r s, R o g e r C o r n e ll a nd F a r m e r
B u r n s, d id n ot k n o w t h a t it t o ok p l a c e ,
s o -.caref u l ! x " - i r as - t ha s e c r e t g u a r d e d^
"I d id n o t s e e t he s c r ap m y s e l f, b ut
W o o d m a n t o ld me c o n f i d e n t i a l ly t h a t
J e ff h ad ho c h a n c e w i t h L a n g f o r d ,, a nd
t h a t t he ' t ar b a b y' k n o c k e d h im o ut
in t he f o u r th - r o u n d ," B a ys B a r r y.
" T w i c e in t he t h i rd r o u nd L a n g f o rd
floored J e f f r i e s. J e ff d i d n 't p u n i sh
S am v e r y m u c h. . T he b i g f e l l o w w a s
s l o w a nd c o u l d n 't h it w e l l ."
It w a g p r o b a b ly t h i s, a s m u ch a s t h«
g r e a t s t r a in on t he f o r m e r c h a m p i o n,
b r o u g ht a b o ut by e x c e s s i v e t r a i n i ng
a nd o t h e r w o r r i e s t h a t c a u s e d h is
m e n t a l c o l l a p s e a nd m a de h im a m a rk
f or t he b i g b l a ck c h a m p i o n.

 

Nah, don't buy it, tried to prove or disprove it by reading up on the days leading up to the Johnson fight but could find nothing conclusive either way.

 

Terrific post ... very interesting !